Suzanne Carpenter

Amelia’s Magazine | Easter Art: Bunnies and Hares and Eggs and Chocolate and Spring Vibes in the Air at last!

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Eostre by Sara Netherway
Eostre by Sara Netherway.

I love this time of year: juicy green buds on the trees, flowers unfurling, finally a small sign of warmer weather. And familiar Easter traditions such as bunnies, decorated eggs and eating far too much chocolate. My latest open brief asked for submissions on the theme of Easter and what it means to you…

Sara Netherway (above)
For the Easter open call I’ve been inspired the goddess of the dawn Eostre. I’ve drawn her as a hare, who is taking care of the new spring life in the form of a baby. The image is drawn in pen and scanned with hand drawn textures, then brought together in photoshop with digital colour added. 

Egg Hunt by CarlyWatts
Carly Watts: Egg Hunt
Easter is one of my favourite times of year, I love giving and receiving pretty chocolate eggs (or bunnies) and eating hot cross buns. When I was younger I used to adore having an easter egg hunt in the garden, so I decided to base my illustration around that. I’ve chosen a really fresh and happy colour palette inspired by spring and the warmer weather arriving with cute Easter animals hiding amongst the flowers and leaves. I wanted to create a poster that would not look out of places in a child’s room, or perhaps sent as an Easter postcard!.

Easter Art for Amelia's Magazine by Carol Kearns
Carol Kearns
When I was a child, Easter meant looking forward to chocolate eggs. My favourite was always the Smarties one. Now at Easter I always bake this chocolate cake. It’s deliciously moist and chocolatey and, made with cocoa and evaporated milk, it reminds me of my childhood – particularly when it is decorated with Smarties! The illustration is made with Caran D’Ache Prismalo Aquarelle watersoluble pencils and so the very making of image harks back to my childhood when I would have been using ‘crayons’ rather than the watercolour paints I more usually use now. I’ve included some of my vintage china in the arrangement and, at this season of symbols, I’ve also included my Pantone mugs in my favourite colours to represent my profession as a designer and illustrator.

Lorna_Scobie_Rabbits
Lorna Scobie
Easter makes me think of rabbits.
Rather than planning an image before I start, I paint as ideas come into my head, which I hope makes the illustration feel more alive. I drew this piece in my sketchbook when I was on holiday, staying in a forest in Germany, where I felt very close to nature. I intended to draw just the one rabbit but once I started they just kept multiplying! I have lots of different sketchbooks for different things, and this illustration is in a sketchbook that I just use for drawing lots and lots of animals. When it’s full, I hope it will be quite a menagerie!
 
Lucy-Dillamore-Easter
Lucy Dillamore
My illustration is an accumulation of all my favourite aspects of Easter imagery; spring, nature, animals, happiness, flowers and bright colours! I love looking at vintage greetings cards and this is also a big inspiration to this work; especially through the colors. I’m currently experimenting with hand drawn line coloured in on photoshop which is the process behind this piece. Happy Easter!

Leap - JennyKadis
Jenny Kadis: Leap
For me, Easter celebrations are all about the welcoming of warmer weather and the marking of a new season. My bunny ballerina is full of the joys of Spring!

Fiona Scoble_A hop a skip and a jump (1)
Fiona Scoble: A Hop, a Skip and a Jump!
Easter arrives just as nature goes up a gear, it’s the perfect moment to celebrate new and renewed life. Everything is busy – flowers unfurling, nests neatly arranged – in a frantic joyful race, which is what these leaping hares are all about!  I painted them in watercolour, laying down the initial form from sketches over a lightbox, then building up detail with a fine brush.  

easter eggs Kat hassan
Kat Hassan
Easter eggs, symbolic of the original meaning of easter, a time of renewal and new birth, a celebration of life and new beginnings.

JanaDoubkova_EasterBuny2
JanaDoubkova_EasterBunny1
Jana Doubkova
I have studied everything possible at Fine Art College and Uni in Prague for 13years (classic drawing, sculpture and new media) and ended up realizing that I cant live without pencil in my hand. Later I added the watercolour for simply having not enough of enjoyable work on every single picture I was creating. Plus the colour – so important! So here I am! Seeing and drawing after beauty in everything surrounding me, especially fairies & kitties, fashion & tea. Feeling so comfortable living in London with all the galleries and museums and cafes on banksides! I work, without surprise, as an Illustrator for magazines and event companies.

kikikalaharieasterart
Kiki Kalahari
I tried bringing a bit of a modern and urban flair to the classic Easter imagery, but wanted to retain a sense of the freshness and hopeful feeling that comes with impending spring, hence this fashionable bunny enjoying the first rays of sunlight in the city. Happy Easter!

Easter Art Fashion Spring Collection by Kasia Dudziuk
Kasia Dudziuk
What I love about Easter is all the fresh Spring colours. I’m inspired by Daffodils, Tulips and many other flowers start to appear in the parks and gardens. Clothing shops start selling lots of pretty floral printed dresses and pastel colour accessories. People start to be outside more, sitting outside at a cafe, doing the gardening, walking around in wide rim hats. But of course there are also lots of beautifully decorated chocolate eggs, Spring chicks and baby animals around. In my illustration I wanted to show all the wonderful elements of Easter.

suzannecarpenter_blooming_haresuzannecarpenter_blooming_hare
Suzanne Carpenter
I make vector pictures, prints and patterns influenced by folk art and fabrics and foraging round in jumble sales and playing eye spy  and day dreaming and doodling and drawing and dipping my toe and poking my nose in cloud cuckoo land. Sometimes I pick up a pen, point a camera, create a collage and sometimes I get distracted for years and years and years. And often I run out of time – but not this time – this time I’ve got 17 mins left to submit. I’m early. That is unusual.

illuminate-Mayumi Mori
Mayumi Mori: Illuminate
This depicts how sunshine makes people to take their coats and scarves off, as if they were plants emerging in the spring. To me, Easter is about hope, new starts and changes. I have made this image for an online illustration project called 52 Words A Year, which I run with two other illustrators, Leni Kauffman and Oliver O’keeffe.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Friday April 3rd, 2015 10:56 am

Categories ,52 Words A Year, ,Carly Watts, ,Carol Kearns, ,Easter, ,EASTER ART, ,Eostre, ,Fiona Scoble, ,illustration, ,Jana Doubkova, ,Jenny Kadis, ,Kasia Dudziuk, ,Kat Hassan, ,Kiki Kalahari, ,Kirstin Eggers, ,Leap, ,Lorna Scobie, ,Lucy Dillamore, ,Mayumi Mori, ,Open brief, ,Sara Netherway, ,Suzanne Carpenter

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Suzanne Carpenter: Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion featured artist.

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Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
Suzanne Carpenter is a hugely busy illustrator and designer who I have admired on instagram for some time, so I am so glad she found time to submit work for my upcoming Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion, creating a beautiful image inspired by her ongoing love of fish, and her daydreams of turning into a mermaid.

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
How did you first discover Amelia’s Magazine?
My daughter Holly first introduced me to Amelia’s Magazine when she was an art student and I’ve been a fan ever since. I’m married a to a designer and we’re more than a bit proud to have produced two new designers.Both based in London; Holly specialises in eyewear and Joe does a combination of graphic design and window vinyl. They roll their eyes if I say too much about them as they hate me being boastful. If only it was allowed I’d tell you that they’re both extremely beautiful and very, very talented. If you’re following me on instagram you’ll likely see news of them and their work cropping up from time to time. We often visit exhibitions together or share links to inspiration but they’re both a bit bemused by my enthusiasm for social media.

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
I believe you began your career as a graphic designer, how did you make the move into illustration?
I trained as a graphic designer but I always had a niggling need to make pictures. Not long after I graduated a friend and I jointly won a Welsh Arts Council competition to illustrate a poetry book and Staedtler employed me to travel around the country drawing with their new range of brush markers. From then on I had regular illustration work but being a butterfly brain I mixed it up with a dollop of teaching, a dabble of writing, a pinch of cushion plumping and staggering amount of staring out of the window.

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
Why did you settle on the name Illustrator Eye for your brand?
@illustrator_eye seemed like a fitting tag – my life is like an intense game of I Spy – constantly attracted and distracted by patterns around me. My illustrator’s eye effects my every move, from making pictures, prints and patterns to rummaging around in charity shops.

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
Why did you choose to draw fish for my colouring book?
I have a thing for fish. Not fin flapping, live, swishing fish but paper, wood and fabric fish. Fishes painted on dishes and things. Mid Century ceramic fish filled with abstract pattern provide oceans of decoration inspiration. Our lives, like the tides, are dependent on patterns and so I chose to impose my compulsion for pattern on flamboyant, fancy fish going with flow and teeny tiny fish that swim against the tide. Like us, all so different and yet the same.

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
Who or what inspired the mermaid?
When I’ve sat too long, run too far or stayed up too late, I visualise myself as a mermaid being towed along through tropical water by beautiful fish. Amazing how it helps the tensions wash away. It’s one of my more relaxing daydreams!

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
You are ridiculously busy, how do you manage all your different projects and stay sane?
I’m not always this busy but the small amount of sanity I’ve retained can probably be put down to a good dose of pavement pounding. Running is a good antidote to work and keeps me from becoming a moody old witch (most of the time). I did Cardiff Half Marathon earlier this month and swore it would be my last but to be honest I’m already thinking about next years. Leaving the car behind and cycling around the city has it’s blissful moment too – weaving in and out of Cardiff’s parks watching the seasons change pumps a bit more oxygen into the brain!

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
What is your involvement with Stills?
Stills is a branding and design company set up by my husband Chris and a partner. I’m a director and over the years I’ve been involved in lots of different projects from illustrating to creative writing and social media support for some of our clients. It’s based in a lovely old coach house on the edge of Bute Park but we’ve also set up a small studio at home and next year will be spending much of our time focusing on our own patterned dreams. You’ll soon be able to find us at @patternistas

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
How did you get involved with Uncle Goose wooden blocks?
Once upon a time on Instagram I posted a paisley pattern that I’d designed. I literally jumped for joy when Pete Bultman at Uncle Goose got in touch to say he’d love to put it on his handmade wooden blocks! That one is still in the pipeline but in the meantime I worked with him on their Hindi language blocks and their Swahili block set which has just been launched. They do a great job of screen printing the designs and are a dream client!

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
Can you tell us more about the Shed Project?
The Shed Project is the amazingly dedicated and beautifully bonkers mission of Lee John Phillips to draw every item in his late grandfather’s shed. He estimates it will take around 5 years of intensive work as he has to draw in excess of 100,000 items. His story has captured imaginations right across the world and his following is growing by the minute. We initially became friends through instagram when it became apparent that not only were we from the same Welsh Valley but we both had a thing for fish! I’m over the moon that he’s suggested that we collaborate on some images for prints. His tools and bolts and my plant patterns (or planterns as he’s named them). We’re going to do some vector and some line images and we may even put them on coffee pots.

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
I believe you are working on a big Christmas campaign for a shopping centre in the USA, what kind of work are you creating for them?
It’s all ginger bread, santa houses, snowflakes and sparkles in my world at the moment. I’m working on the Christmas campaign for The Grove and Americana at Brand in LA. The commission came from them seeing my work on Illustration Mundo. They were looking for a very graphic, patterned, vector style and so I happily my work fitted the bill. I’ve got a great long list of images to get done by the end of Oct so I think I’ll be hanging a few baubles from my ears and getting the Christmas albums out to keep me going.

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
What else are you working on at present?
I’ve just finished a mural in the garden of a local organic cafe – I’d love to do more of that. Through my agents Artist Partners I’ve recently illustrated the cover and sample pages for a book about the wildlife of the rainforest. I’ve just had news that it went down well at Frankfurt Book Fair and so fingers crossed that more of my days will be spent growing leaf patterns and putting legs on insects! Along with Chris I’m working on a series of videos for Interface (sustainability champions and the worlds largest manufacturer of contract carpet tiles) – they’ll be used to help train their sales team. I’ll be doing the scripting and storyboarding and Chris will be videoing my live drawing. I’ve done a couple of prints for the 5th anniversary exhibition of Sho, my favourite local gallery. I’m doing a few days as a visiting lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan Uni this month – helping run a collage/layout project with a lovely group of 1st yr graphic students. I’m developing some ideas for a pattern book which I hope to present to publishers as soon as I can find some extra hours in the day to finish visualising them. I’ve taken part in ‘Out Fox’ a 3D paper project by Proyecto Ensamble who are based in Chile. They supply the fox head template and 13 illustrators from across the world have designed a pattern to feature on them. The set are just launching – see them on instagram @ensamble

Suzanne Carpenter Illustator Eye
Where can people find you online?
You can find me on instagram at @illustrator_eye, on twitter at @illustrator_eye, on etsy here, at Stills and at Artist Partners.

Find Suzanne Carpenter and many other talented artists in my upcoming Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion, available soon on Kickstarter, the perfect alternative colouring book to gift this Christmas.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday October 21st, 2015 11:31 am

Categories ,#ameliasccc, ,@illustrator_eye, ,@patternistas, ,Adult Colouring Book, ,Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion, ,americana, ,Artist Partners, ,Brand, ,Cardiff Half Marathon, ,Cardiff Metropolitan Uni, ,Colorado State University, ,Coloring, ,Colouring, ,Colouring Book, ,fish, ,Frankfurt Book Fair, ,I Spy, ,illustration, ,Illustration Mundo, ,Illustrator Eye, ,Interface, ,interview, ,Kickstarter, ,Lee John Phillips, ,Mermaid, ,Mid Century, ,Out Fox, ,Proyecto Ensamble, ,Shed Project, ,Sho, ,Staedtler, ,Stills, ,Suzanne Carpenter, ,The Grove, ,Uncle Goose, ,Welsh Arts Council

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Amelia’s Magazine | 8 Things You Didn’t Know About Colouring Books For Adults

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Amelia Gregory portrait
Adult Colouring is a trend you can’t escape, so why not embrace the phenomenon with gusto this Christmas? You might be surprised by how much you and your loved ones enjoy it. I first became fascinated by the growth in popularity of adult colouring a year ago, and although sure it would not appeal to me as a personal hobby I thought the format provided the perfect forum for artists to showcase their work. So I posted a brief on Amelia’s Magazine and set about making Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion. In the interests of research I decided to try adult colouring myself, and before I knew it I was a total convert: from intrigued sceptic to full on addict, here’s what I’ve learnt during my colouring journey so far.

Sophie Corrigan by Sua Agape Adult Colouring Book
Sophie Corrigan coloured by Sua Agape.

1. Colouring Can Be Daunting
Yes, really! Making marks on a blank bit of paper can be daunting to most, but colouring is not necessarily the easy route out. Choosing the right medium and colours can be a scary process, so don’t be surprised if you occasionally find yourself stumped. Colouring is given a bad rap as uncreative but as a colourist you impose your own creativity on that page. Yes, I said colourist. Being a colourist is a thing in the adult colouring world. And I’m not talking hair dye.

2. Colouring Is For Everyone
Don’t let the above put you off: there are many ways to make the creative choices less stressful. Try the wonderful website Color Hunt for simple colour palettes if you’re stuck on what to use. Or, don’t think about what colour you pick up, just use whatever medium you have to hand and be impulsive. There are no rights and wrongs so enjoy the process; it’s supposed to be fun and relaxing. Colouring builds creative confidence so it is a great entry point into further artistic endeavour.

Lorna Scobie by Libby Parra Adult Colouring Book
Lorna Scobie coloured by Libby Parra.

3. Colouring Is A Creative Collaboration
You may be colouring someone else’s creation, but your decisions enable that line drawing to come to life – so don’t underestimate your input. When you spend a lot of time colouring in you get to know the artist’s artwork intimately, so it really helps if you like their style. Go for a theme that appeals to you: from mandalas to mohicans, there are thousands of books now available with designs to suit all tastes. Why not seek your interests out? A good colouring book artist will keep you inspired for days on end.

4. The Colouring Community Thrives Online
You know how colouring is touted as the best way to switch off and step away from the screen? Well that’s true, but there is a thriving adult colouring community sharing artwork online, swapping tips and admiring each other’s work. Facebook is the best place to ogle at some true masterpieces, learn how to achieve the best shading and get into discussions about the pros and cons of vaseline versus baby oil (for blending, nothing nefarious I promise.) No one person will colour a picture the same way and it’s a real thrill to see how differently everyone approaches a similar image.

Suzanne Carpenter Adult Colouring Book
Double page by Suzanne Carpenter.

5. Be Prepared To Be Peaceful
If you really want to get in the zone it’s a good idea to set yourself up with the right equipment. Colouring at night with scratchy pencils under a low wattage lamp without a sharpener to hand does not make for a pleasant experience, so be prepared to invest in some super duper accessories like a lap desk with integral lamp. Headaches are far from restful!

6. Colouring Soon Gets Costly
The online colouring world is full of colourists with hundreds of colouring books and cupboards that spilleth over with pens and pencils. There are many options and they all give different results, so be prepared to spend money on your new habit and become a pencil/pen geek with alarming rapidity. If you are anything like me you will need only the merest excuse to buy new art materials: so before you know it you’ll be salivating over Marco Raffines, comparing Prismacolor colours and experimenting with Gelly Rolls.

Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford Hack by Colour With Claire
Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford, Hack by Colour With Claire.

7. Colouring Pages Get Hacked
It seems that everything can be hacked these days, and by this I do not mean steal – you should always get your colouring pages from a legitimate source and ensure the artists are paid for their work. But why not have a bit of fun and hack an original colouring page image? There’s no law to say you have to stay within the lines, so go wild and add your own elements to the original creation, such as these Disney characters in a Johanna Basford tree by Colour with Claire.

8. Lastly, Colouring Is Addictive
It’s exciting. You can make an image come alive with colour, and there’s a real sense of achievement when you finish colouring a page, especially one that has taken a long time to complete. Which probably explains why colouring is so darn addictive… and can become very time consuming if your addiction really takes hold. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion is funding now on Kickstarter and features 40 artists from all over the world.

AmeliasCCC Kickstarter campaign image
This article also appears on the Huffington Post.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Sunday November 15th, 2015 9:47 am

Categories ,#ameliasccc, ,Adult Colouring, ,Adult Colouring Books, ,Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion, ,Christmas, ,Color Hunt, ,Coloring Books, ,Colour with Claire, ,Colouring Books, ,Colouring Books For Adults, ,Gelly Rolls, ,Hobbies, ,Huffington Post, ,Johanna Basford, ,Kickstarter, ,Libby Parra, ,Lorna Scobie, ,Marco Raffine, ,Prismacolor, ,Sakura, ,Sophie Corrigan, ,Sua Agape, ,Suzanne Carpenter

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